Last Bit of Wallpaper...

So I mentioned how much I love removing wallpaper.  Started my final wallpaper removal in my powder room.  This room was actually the nicest room in the house when I bought the house but the grass-cloth like wallpaper is showing some wear and I've never liked the stain glass lamp and gold accessories.  The floor originally was a nice tile but it had a VERY BUSY design that just overwhelmed the space.  I had the floor replaced when I replaced the carpeted areas at the front of the house with wood before I had moved in.

Pre-renovated powder room

Of all the attempts in this house to take down wallpaper this room has been the 'best' in that I was able to get both layers of wallpaper off without totally destroying the wallboard but this was by no means an easy project.  

Removing first layer of grasscloth wallpaper

If you've never removed wallpaper before, you first need to get off the top coat followed by the adhesive paper backing. In this case, getting the first layer off revealed a second layer of wallpaper.  The first layer came off fairly easily since it was glued to the second layer and not the wallboard.  Removing the second layer was a very tedious task using a spray bottle with 1:5 ratio fabric softener and hot water, a plastic spackle knife and a wallpaper scoring device.  I scored sections of the walls, sprayed the solution and let it sit 5 minutes or so and then proceed to peel away the layers trying not to damage the wallboard beneath. Sometimes it would come off inches at a time, others a few feet.  

Removing second layer of wallpaper

You can see from the picture above where some wall damage did occur, particularly at the seams of the paper. After getting all the paper and adhesive removed I decided that the walls were good enough for me to repair and just paint rather than doing the spackle project I mentioned in an earlier post.  I did have to wipe the walls with a sponge to remove any excess adhesive and also patch and sand any holes before painting.

Raw wallboard from previous remodel

Primed wallboard

After removing all the paper I realized that previously there must have been a full sized vanity in the bathroom.  When the bathroom was remodeled they installed a small sink and you could see the raw wallboard where the old vanity had fit against both walls.  They installed the second layer of wallpaper right over the wallboard without priming.  Although my paint had primer in it, I decided to prime the raw wallboard as well as any bad sections of the walls.  As I started painting I could see that the paint wasn't covering the bad sections very well and even after priming and painting one coat, you could still see these imperfections.  Hopefully the second coat will help alleviate the problem but the walls are in pretty bad shape so I can only do so much to fix them.

Finished the second coat of paint, spray painted all the gold accessories black, replaced the gold sink fixtures with a new chrome set, updated the globes on the light, installed a new white wall switch, installed a new white heating register and traded out the old wooden toilet seat for a new white one. All I really have to do is re-install the trim and accessorize and I'm pretty much done.  I could have spray painted the register but decided it was worthwhile to just replace it.  Spray paint was definitely my friend in re-using the accessories in this room. I have an old piece of cork board with all the holes in it (like you would use in a workshop to hang all your tools).  I use this for all my spray painting projects because I can screw the items onto the board particularly for knobs and such.  

Repainted light fixture with new globes

New floor vent

Everything was coming together but I wasn't happy with how the paint looked over the lower section of the wall where the old vanity had been attached.  When the previous owners replaced the wallboard they hadn't taped or spackled the seams.  It wasn't noticeable when the wall was wallpapered but the areas just didn't look nice when painted.  My son was visiting yesterday and has been spackling a lot with his job for a property management company.  He offered to tape and spackle the joints for me so he re-did the corners on both sides of the sink.  I now have to sand, prime and repaint these areas and then I'll be ready to accessorize.

Re-doing the joints

I was going to do a paint border around the middle of the wall between the sink and the mirror using white paint applied with a toilet paper tube so it would be random circles. However I decided instead to install a tall cabinet that has additional surface area, particularly for when overnight guests are using the bathroom.  After adding this I decided the border would be too busy.  Here is the finished room. I'll keep my eyes open for some new art work (think I'd like to bring in orange, dark pink or teal)  - I borrowed this picture from my office.  Then I'll get some colorful hand towels and accessories to bring some more color into the space.